NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Adams County Board of Supervisors closed the public out of its meeting Monday to discuss a prospect interested in the Belwood industrial site the county has tried for nearly 20 years to get new businesses to develop.

The industrial prospect has been dubbed “Project Green Frog.” Supervisors met with Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ, the county’s chief industrial recruiter. They do plan to again discuss Project Green Frog at a special board meeting Thursday.

State law allows government boards to bar the public from meetings about their efforts to bring in new businesses. Adams County supervisors regularly close these meetings, reasoning that industries want to keep their location plans private until ready to make them public.

The county board purchased the 202-acre Belwood site in 1998 -- the year the same-named country club there closed -- to accommodate industries. However, it’s remained mostly vacant as supervisors failed to lure much business there. The board did sell four acres of it in 2015 to Great River Industries, which has a steel-fabrication plant nearby.

The old Belwood golf course on River Terminal Road was used by the country club for 40 years. In marketing what it calls the Belwood Industrial Park, Natchez Inc., points out that it has 1,500 feet of Mississippi River frontage and is adjacent to the Natchez-Adams County Port facility. It also has water wells.

To make it more appealing for industries, Adams County is building a levee there to protect the land from river floodwaters. More than $2 million has been provided in federal and county funds for the phase-one construction of the levee. More money is being sought to finish the levee, which has been estimated to cost $6 million or more.